US drone strike kills nine suspected militants in Pakistan

Feb 8, 2012, 5:56 GMT

Islamabad - At least nine suspected Taliban militants were killed and several more injured in a US drone attack in Pakistan's north-western region on Wednesday, security officials said.

The attack took place in North Waziristan, one of the seven tribal districts along the Afghan border where Taliban and al-Qaeda have hideouts.

'A US drone fired two missiles into a compound in the early morning hours,' said a local intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity. 'The locals have pulled out nine bodies and around a dozen injured from the rubble of demolished house.'

A second intelligence official said that the fighters from the Haqqani network, an Afghan Taliban group, were using the house as a hideout. 'Among the killed are some Afghan and some Pakistani Taliban.'

The United States has been carrying out drone strikes in Pakistan for several years but the campaign was halted temporarily in November after a NATO attack on a Pakistani border post undermined Pakistani-US relations.

But the halt ended on January 7 when the US resumed its drone strikes. Since then four strikes have taken place.

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